Barnabas File

Sunday was a great experience of worship as Immanuel Baptist Church in Nashville ordained Tambi Brown Swiney, their associate pastor, to the gospel ministry. Tambi has worked out her call to ministry over a number of years. After she was married and became a mother, Tambi perceived a call to ministry. With the support of her family, she enrolled in the master of divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham and began a commuter student existence. At the same time, she continued to serve through her church in Nashville. At the ordination service, a mutual friend made the comment that he remembered serving alongside Tambi as a preschool worker during VBS when he was a teenager. He observed that Tambi had “worked up through the ranks” and certainly deserved this affirmation of her ministry. Although we don’t think of ministerial roles as a hierarchy, there is something to be said for “paying your dues” in church life. Before one can aspire to leadership roles that involve the “care...

Watching the last few minutes of repeat of the Lost finale Saturday evening, I picked up on a line that changed my perception of the “flash sideways” world and the island. When Jack is talking with his father, Christian says, “There is no now .” He goes on to explain that in the “flash sideways” world, there is no time factor. Those represented there may already have died or will die, but they are there nonetheless. If we buy this point of view, then the island was “real” (despite all its mysticism and magic) and was the stage upon which Jack and the other castaways played out their journeys of redemption. This also means that Kate, Claire, and Sawyer escaped the island to live on in the “real world” even though they were present in the “flash sideways” world. Here again, I do not believe that the writers of Lost are orthodox Christians, but this world that they crated to exist alongside ours is very much what Christians expect in heaven—reunion with loved ones without the s...

In the current issue of The Christian Century , Mark Wm. Radecke addresses the ten worst practices of short-term mission trips. As a university chaplain, Radecke speaks from long personal experience in taking students on mission trips in the United States and overseas. A key point in his article is the necessity of helping students to “figure out” what is going with them as a result of being part of these experiences. He writes, When I began leading mission trips, I assumed that participants would naturally come to new understandings and integrate them into their faith and life. What I failed to appreciate was the importance of reflection—so critical that some practitioners refer to it as the "hyphen in service-learning." When reflection is minimal or missing—when those involved in short-term missions do not ruminate on their experiences, ponder the situations of those served and relate them to their own faith—a precious opportunity is lost. As a former campus minister...

In previous comments about the finale of Lost , I may have missed a primary theme that has run throughout the series—the place of community in redemption. The “live together, die alone” phrase surfaced early on in the first season and was repeatedly emphasized during the last season. Perhaps the idea is not that the “survivors” find redemption within themselves but that they find it in community. This may be the way that postmoderns come to faith.  The old approach to conversion was "believe-belong-behave" whereas the new model may be "belong-behave-believe."  This seems to express the experience of the "survivors." In order to make any significant change in our lives, we need a community of people to support us. People in this type of community challenge one another, support each other in the difficult times, and share their spiritual struggles. Just as in Lost , this group is often flawed and divided but they stick together for the journey. We need t...

Lost ended as it began with Jack Shephard lying in the jungle, but he is dying. In fact, it appears that everyone is dead! The two and one-half hours of the final episode were riveting story telling that tugged at our hearts but, as expected, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof left us with a lot of questions and plot holes big enough to drive several semi trucks through. For example, why were Desmond and Penny in the final group in the church? Was Desmond even real? Penny was never on the island. If she is dead, how did she die? Kate, Sawyer, and Claire can’t have escaped the island on the plane if they are getting ready to go on to “the light.” Is finding your “significant other” the key to salvation? Among those in the church, Locke seemed to be the only one who had not found his true love. What about Michael and Walt? Where do they fit into all this? What about Ben Linus? Why is he waiting outside the church? Is he still atoning for his sins?  What about Charlotte and Daniel? Th...

We are closing in on the finale of Lost. I am afraid that showrunners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof will leave us with a number of unanswered questions, but one thing is clear. This is a story of redemption and the title Lost was well chosen. In last week’s episode, island protector Jacob (or his apparition) gathered the four final “candidates” around the campfire and laid it on the line. When Sawyer says, “I was doing just fine without you and the island,” Jacob responds with the truth. None of them were doing well in the lives they lived off the island. He says, “I chose all of you because you were flawed, you were all like me, alone and looking for something you couldn't find, and you need this place as much as it needs you." In a recent interview , Damon Lindelof said: If there’s one word that we keep coming back to, it’s redemption. It is that idea of everybody has something to be redeemed for and the idea that that redemption doesn’t necessarily come from any...

Several years ago, a traditional church in a southern city followed the lead of some missional members to reach out to children who lived in a lower-income area near the church building. The couple lived in the area and was already involved with the children through their relationships in the neighborhood and by opening their home for fellowship, tutoring, and Bible studies. Some other members of the church volunteered to help with these activities. The point finally came when someone suggested that the children be invited to attend worship at the contemporary service of the church. This was a worthy idea, but it soon became apparent that it was doomed to failure. The children were not “used to being in church” even when the worship was upbeat and celebrative. Some church members suggested that they be involved in classes to help understand “how they should act.” As you might expect, the children became less and less interested in attending, and the effort to integrate them into the ...

The HBO series 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon tells the story of the Apollo program, the program that landed six spacecraft on the moon. The series does not fail to point out the sacrifices—human lives, marriages, careers—that contributed to that success. As a result of the Apollo mission, twelve men walked on the surface of the moon, returning valuable knowledge about its structure and possible origins. At the same time, these astronauts only touched a small part of a globe with the land mass of Africa. Only toward the end was a geologist included on a crew. What if more scientists could spend time there? What about artists and other creative people? The series is particularly poignant since 12 years after this series was produced and 38 years after the last human walked on the moon, our President indicates that the moon is “old hat” and it is time to move on to new challenges. We still know very little about our nearest planetary neighbor. When the United States was ...

Is your image of God one of scarcity or abundance? Does God conserve or create? In an online discussion, Steve Simmons, Director of Continuing Education, Moravian Theological Seminary, and an ordained Presbyterian minister, points out that we are observing a clash of two different worldviews. The old one looks like this:           Scarcity=management-power-control The new one looks like this:          Abundance=collaboration-connectivity-creativity What we often see as generational conflict within churches or denominations may actually be different ways of perceiving reality. One mindset is concerned with the preservation of the material assets and the status quo, so a high priority is placed on control and resource allocation. If you want to make changes, you must first get permission. The other mindset is more focused on the generation of information and ideas. This approach is highly relati...

Although a person works in another culture, the approaches he or she uses to share the Gospel can provide insights for doing the same in our own culture. Those insights may even have a personal application. In a recent discussion with friends who live in Southeast Asia, they used a phrase that caught my attention—“community as a place of discovery.” They talked about their attempts to provide a place where indigenous believers can ask questions without fear of criticism or ridicule. Although the questions may come from their study of the Bible, very often they deal with concerns about living out their faith within their culture. How can they be believers but still be responsible and participating members of their larger community? What do they have to give up in order to follow Christ? What are the “hard sayings” of the gospel that are a stumbling block for them? This challenged me with the questions, “Where is my place of discovery? Where can I be honest about my own struggles to ...

After a recent capital campaign in our church, I reminded our pastor of the comment that makes the circuit on a regular basis. It is the comment of the leader who stands before the congregation and says, “We have all the money we need. The problem is that it is still in your pockets.” I was reminded of this statement when I read an article by Robert Parham, executive editor of EthicsDaily.com, on a recent meeting of Baptists at Callaway Gardens. Parham’s comments were very candid, and I accept his quotes, although unattributed, as providing an accurate portrayal of that meeting. He quoted one participant as saying, "We don't have enough money, enough constituents, enough readers, enough students, enough volunteers. As we've said today several times already, enough money, enough money, enough money.” Friend, it may be that we have what we deserve. People give to those things they believe in and value. They believe in and value things only when they hear the story and b...

One of the challenges faced by pastors today is the expectation of some church members that the pastor be the CEO—Chief Executive Officer—of the church. Well, in reality, some church members just want the pastor to be the manager of the church so they won’t have to deal with things like roof repairs, leaky plumbing, janitorial service and failing audio-visual systems. A pastor friend recently commented to me, “Seminary just did not prepare me to be the business manager of a church.” Certainly, there are some administrative details that every minister must assume whether he or she is comfortable with them or not. I also agree that many of the systems of the church—financial, personnel, facility management—should be conducted by the best business practices available. But where did we get the idea that the minister is the one responsible for these things? Please note this passage from the Acts of the Apostles: During this time, as the disciples were increasing in numbers by leaps an...